YELLOW SPRINGS – Mills Lawn Elementary School is the recipient of a $13,699 Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant from the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation for the School/Community Outdoor Restoration for Education, or SCORE project.

Mills Lawn is one of 593 schools across the United States to be awarded a Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant during its fall 2016 grants cycle for improvement projects.

The SCORE Project is a project-based initiative Mills Lawn students are leading to rehabilitate and restore the southwest area of the schools’ grounds (the former tennis courts). The goal of the project is to transform the space into an outdoor learning/collaboration space as well as an outdoor recreation space for community and school use. The project will begin this spring.

The outdoor recreation space will feature options to support students’ physical development and provide additional recreational spaces for community use. Picnic tables will provide additional lunch seating and foldable tables and chairs can be used to convert the space to an outdoor classroom/collaboration space. A newly­-paved path to the outdoor classroom space will facilitate safe travel to and from the school building.

Garden plots, compost bins and outdoor education curriculum materials will promote student familiarity with and appreciation of nature and build environmental stewardship skills. A large shed will be purchased to safely store all supplies and materials, including power tools, hand tools, gardening tools and supplies. The outdoor classroom space and tools will be available to all Mills Lawn students.

“Thanks to Lowe’s support, this project will provide an authentic, project-based learning experience for our students that results in a new outdoor space to benefit our school and our community,” said Mills Lawn Principal Matt Housh. “Restoring this area of our grounds has been a long-term goal and we are excited to work with our community to develop this area into a new asset for our community.”